Everyone's heard the rumors of natural disasters, failing technology, mass suicide and Mayans. Columbia Pictures' response: 2012.

The film focuses on many main characters, but foremost on the list is Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), a middle-aged, divorced author who spends far too much time on his laptop and not enough with his kids, who is thrust into a mission to save his family when the world becomes ravaged by natural disasters.

While people are dying and literally falling off the face of the earth at every turn, Curtis and his family are defying death. Other characters — Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a young scientist who has been studying the 2012 tragedy, and Laura Wilson (Thandie Newton), an art buff who also happens to be daughter to the president — have their own dilemmas to deal with concerning the end of the world.

I can guarantee this film did not live up to expectations. I give the writers credit for trying to weave together so many stories; however, the product ended up as a story where only family troubles were believable. There are only so many times that a family of five can outrun nautral disasters. And how, may I ask, does the whole world crack into a zillion pieces then a month later everything looks exactly the same? I'll tell you how: Hollywood.

I found the movie entertaining, but, if you're looking to take a film seriously, this is not the one for you.

Rebecca Gonzales can be reached at nellybly22@gmail.com.